Karadzic 'is planning to defend himself'

(Reuters)

Radovan Karadzic's lawyer says the former Bosnian Serb leader wants to defend himself against UN war crimes charges.

That has set up the prospect of Karadzic using the courtroom in The Hague as a soapbox to preach his Serb nationalism and seeking to rewrite the history of the Balkan wars in the same way his one-time ally Slobodan Milosevic did during his ill-fated trial.

Prosecutors oppose defendants representing themselves in court because their cases are so complex.

Spokeswoman Olga Karvan said today that the court's prosecutors "believe the interests of justice will be best served if the accused are assisted by qualified counsel."

Karadzic was arrested on Monday and is in a Belgrade cell awaiting extradition to The Hague.

Meanwhile Karadzic's daughter says she is grateful for financial help offered to her family by the Bosnian Serb government and hopes it will allow them to normalise their lives after a decade of "hell" they went through while he was on the run.

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik promised to give financial help to the family of the newly captured war crimes fugitive.

Daughter Sonja Karadzic she expects to get in touch with Dodik soon. She repeated appeals to international officials in Bosnia to lift travel restrictions against the family so they can go to Belgrade to visit Karadzic before his transfer to the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands.